Biorobotic insights into how animals swim

Abstract

SUMMARY Many animals maneuver superbly underwater using their pectoral appendages. These animals range from sunfish, which have flexible, low aspect ratio fins, to penguins, which have relatively stiff, high aspect ratio wings. Biorobotics is a means of gaining insight into the mechanisms these animals use for maneuvering. In this study, experiments were carried out with models of abstracted penguin wings, and hydrodynamic characteristics – in particular, efficiency – were measured directly. A cross-flow vortex model of the unsteady force mechanism was developed that can compute instantaneous lift and drag forces accurately. This makes use of the steady characteristics of the fin and proposes that cross-flow drag vortices of bluff bodies in steady flow are analogous to dynamic stall vortices and that fin oscillation is a means for keeping the vortices attached to the fin. From what has been reported for sunfish with pectoral fins to our current measurements for single abstracted penguin wings, we infer that the maximum hydrodynamic efficiency has remained largely unchanged. A selection algorithm was used to rapidly find the fin oscillation parameters for optimum efficiency. Finally, we compared the measurements on the penguin-like relatively stiff fins and the reported flow visualization of flexible sunfish pectoral fins. The flexible pectoral fins of station-keeping sunfish exhibit a rich repertoire of capability such as the formation of dynamic stall vortices simultaneously on two leading edges during part of the cycle, changes in projected area in different planes, and the vectoring of jets. However, such fins may not be scalable to larger biorobotic vehicles and relatively stiff fins appear to be better suited instead, albeit with somewhat limited station-keeping ability.